Atoms of various source materials may be needed for scientific testing. For example, a test may call for atoms of a certain metal to be directed to a target location. Typically, the atoms generated can be very high in number and have little directional input. It can be difficult, however, to create and precisely direct a stream of atoms from a source material into a small target location.
Additionally, it can be difficult to provide multiple different sources of atoms of different species from a small area. For example, a test may call for different atoms from multiple different source materials, such as silver and iron. It can be advantageous to provide both sources of atoms from the two different source materials from a small area, as the test area itself may be small.